Blanket Time
by CreationsGalore
Summary: As children, Anna and Elsa enjoy their blanket time, when they settle down and read a book. Due to a tragic accident, the princesses are separated. The two can't stand this, both trying to read to the other to no avail. The pair eventually reconnect and enjoy blanket time once more. Based off patronustrip's drawings of the same name.


*knock knock knock-knock knock*

"Elsie!" exclaims a five year-old Anna, while knocking on her bedroom door.

"Yes, Anna?" replies her eight year-old sister Elsa, opening the door.

"Guess what time it is!" exclaims the younger of the two, carrying her favourite book behind her back.

"Umm… Bed time?"

"No, silly! It's blanket time!" said Anna, as she whips the book out, shoving it in her sister's face.

"Anna, watch where you're swinging that!"

"Sorry Elsa", Anna sheepishly replies with her adorable puppy-eyes.

Elsa could never resist that, quickly hugging the younger girl.

"It's alright Anna. Let's get to reading this, shall we?"

At that, the pair walk into their room.

Realizing that the sun was setting, Elsa set off into the hall to look for a candle. Anna, feeling a bit chilly, starts looking around the room to find the snowflake adorned blanket she loves so much.

While looking around the room, Anna spots a glint of white and blue out the corner of her eyes. Approaching the object, she realizes that it is her favourite doll, the one that resembles her favourite person in the world – her sister Elsa. Grabbing it, she begins looking through the nearby chest, and finds her blanket and the figurine of herself as well.

Having found everything, she sets everything on the ground. Wondering why her sister hasn't returned, Anna opens the door and sees Elsa walking down the hall, carrying a lit candle.

With a sly grin on her face, Anna quickly shuts the door, and with all her might, leans on the door to keep it closed.

Elsa finally gets to the door and tries to open it, but to no avail.

"Anna!" she yells.

"Yes, Elsa?"

"Open up this door, right now!"

"What's the secret password?"

"Please?"

"No, silly, the other secret password!"

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

"YES!" the door opening quickly. "Can we build one now?"

"Not today Anna, I thought it was blanket time?"

"Fine… Tomorrow then?"

"Of course." Elsa says, in an endearing voice.

Finished with their searching, they settle down on the floor as Elsa wraps the blanket around the two of them.

As Elsa reads _The Snow Queen_, Anna interrupts, "Do the magic! Do the magic!"

Elsa complies, showing off her magic, in all its glory. A wide grin appears on Anna's face as she says "This is amazing!"

Anna, not having accounted for the cold, shivers a bit and pulls in the blanket. She also grabs onto her sister, who is surprisingly warm despite her icy powers.

As Elsa reads, Anna's eyes begin to droop. She eventually falls asleep, lying on her sister's arm. Elsa notices and smiles gently. She sets down the book and blows out the candle. She rests Anna on the ground comfortably, not wanting to wake her up, and lies down next to her.

As the moon rises over Arendelle, two sisters can be seen in peaceful slumber. Both are grasping each other's dolls in their arms, covered with a blue, snowflake-decorated blanket.

* * *

"Elsa, psst! Elsa, wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Anna, go back to sleep!"

"I just can't. The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!"

"Go play by yourself!"

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

The two spend time playing in the snow. All of this is vividly haunting to Elsa, even as the years pass, but the only thing Anna remembers is building Olaf.

* * *

The next morning, Anna wakes up from a very strange dream, about being kissed by trolls.

When she finally opens her eyes, she notices that servants are bustling about, moving everything from Elsa's side of the room out. Where she is, or why this is happening, she doesn't know. She scurries into the hallway, but all she sees is Elsa shutting her new door with a sad frown on her face. She doesn't know what she's done to deserve this.

The same evening, Anna returns to her room. Although much has changed, their reading area has been left intact. She sees Elsa's figurine.

Content with having some portion of Elsa to remember, she picks it up and climbs into bed, clinging onto her doll as she falls asleep.

* * *

A few days have passed by now, and as Elsa is about to go to sleep, she grabs Anna's doll and climbs into bed. Ever since the incident, she hasn't been able to fall asleep without the doll. However, Elsa realizes that Anna might miss her doll, and resolves to return it. Climbing out of her warm bed, she heads towards her door, opening it. Elsa looks to both sides of the hall, and upon seeing emptiness, she quickly scurries to her sister's room.

As she is about to enter, thoughts fly through her mind.

_What if I hurt her again?_

_I'm just returning this doll._

She shakes these thoughts out of her mind and quietly opens the door. Anna is already asleep in her bed, her blankets in a mess on the floor. As Elsa approaches her bed, she sees a book on the ground. Picking it up, she realizes its identity and sets it on Anna's nightstand. Pulling the blue blanket off the ground, she lays it on Anna. She then finds a match and lights the candle so that she can read.

As she's about to climb into the bed, more thoughts plague her.

_What are you doing?_

_I'm just going to read a book._

_What if you freeze her?_

_Just one page… just let me read to her again, just this once…_

She convinces herself that one page will be alright. Elsa reads the page slowly, basking in her sister's aura, enjoying any and every second she can with the most important person in her life. By the end of it, her eyes are full of tears and longing.

After a few minutes of silence, she sets the book down on Anna's nightstand. She then places both dolls on top and blows out the candle. Elsa heads for the door slowly, and as she is about to close the door for the last time, Elsa whispers, "I love you, Anna. If only you knew…"

* * *

The next morning, Anna wakes up particularly refreshed, unknowing of last night's events. She sits up, noticing that she's draped in her blue blanket - not the usual one she sleeps in. Looking at her nightstand, she sees two dolls now, with the candle and book.

Upon seeing the book, she suddenly remembers the nights that she spent with Elsa reading.

_If Elsa won't come to me, then I'll go to her! _Anna thinks.

Not paying too much attention to the dolls, she grabs the book and walks out the door, intending to convince her sister to read with her once more.

Leaning against her sister's door, she begins to read _The Snow Queen_, albeit a bit slower than her sister. She tries this for months, pages at a time, even with other books, but she can never invoke a response from Elsa. She never realizes that Elsa's leaning on the other side of that door, weeping silent tears.

As the years pass, Anna's visits become less and less common. She eventually resigns herself to reading in her own room. The candle, dolls, and blanket are still lying on her nightstand, Anna never having found the strength to put them away. Having given up on reading to her sister and hoping that Elsa will read to her once more, she wraps the items in the blanket. She then buries the bundle in her toy chest, where it will be left untouched for years.

For the first time since The Great Thaw, it was snowing naturally.

As Anna approaches her door carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, she realises that she won't be able to open it. Always being a quick thinker, she came up with a solution.

*knock knock knock-knock knock*

"Elsie!" came a voice from outside.

Elsa approached the door and opened it, to find Anna carrying two mugs in her hands. Her gaze shifting upwards, she notices that Anna's forehead is a light shade of pink.

"Anna… did you use your head to knock on the door?"

"I might have?" replied Anna sheepishly.

"Oh Anna…", said her sister in a warm voice, while ruffling the younger girl's hair, "let's go sit by the fire."

Anna eagerly runs over, hoping to put down the mugs. Surprisingly, she manages to keep the cups' contents intact.

Elsa slowly follows her, shaking her head. Not looking where she's going, Elsa manages to trip over Anna's toy chest.

"Whoa!"

"Usually, I'm the clumsy one." Anna says, as Elsa picks herself off the ground.

"I can be you for a change." replies Elsa, bringing the chest over to where Anna is sitting.

"Haha." Anna says, rolling her eyes. "It's cold, isn't it?"

"Yep, it's finally winter… and I'm not the cause of it."

"I know it was hard dealing with that by yourself, but you know, you'll never be alone again… I'll always be here."

Tears began leaking from both girls' eyes. They quickly grab onto each other, spending a few minutes in comfortable silence.

"Now, Elsa, if you're going to be me, you'll have to turn that frown upside-down!" At that, a smile grew on both of their faces. Anna brought her thumbs up to Elsa's cheeks and wiped away her tears, followed by Elsa doing the same for her.

"Come on, let's play with some toys!"

"Don't you think we're a bit old for that?"

"You can never be too old to play, even if you're the Snow Queen!" Anna said, with a smirk on her face.

Elsa swatted her sister on her shoulder lightly, giggling.

As Anna opened the chest, both of them noticed a blue snowflake-encrusted blanket.

"I haven't opened this in forever…"

As Elsa unwrapped the blanket, two dolls and a book came tumbling out. After a few seconds, realization dawned on Elsa's face.

"Anna… you kept these?"

It all came back at that second. The memories of the books, the night they read together, and all the days after.

Tears again fell from both sisters as they engulfed each other in a warm hug. After breaking apart, Elsa asked, "Why do you have a candle wrapped in here?"

"I was hoping that you'd come back to read to me again."

Just as she said that, Elsa wrapped her arms around her younger sister once more, Anna following suit in no time. A few seconds pass in silence, neither sister minding.

"Hey Elsa?"

"Yes, Anna?"

"Our hot chocolate's gonna get cold."

"Thanks for ruining the mood."

"If you're not gonna be me, then I'll be me - someone's got to be the cheerful one!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Elsa lights the candle and wraps the blanket around the two of them, as she did years ago.

As she begins to read, Anna grabs the two dolls and wraps them in her arms. Not too long after, she begins to fall asleep. When Anna dozes off, Elsa shuts the book and shifts her younger sister into a more comfortable position. She glances at the candle and realizes that its flame is dimming, having completed its purpose. After the candle extinguishes, the room is left in a bath of moonlight.

Elsa wraps her arms around her sister and places a kiss on her freckled forehead.

She whispers, "I love you, Anna."

As her eyes close, the hot chocolate left unattended, she hears a faint, "I love you more, Elsie."

"I love you most, my little snowflake."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short little story! ****Please let me know what you thought of it in the reviews or via PM!**

******EDIT: Updated due to a few spelling errors when uploading the story. They should be fixed now!**

**This was based on patronustrip's two drawings and prompt of the same name. So, thanks to the wonderfully talented patronustrip for providing an inspiration for this story, macrobee (my beta! Find her - and her art- on Tumblr!), and the rest of my tumblr-less friends for helping me out with this! **

**You can find the original drawings, by patronustrip, here. The link is also available on my profile.: **

**patronustrip _dot_ tumblr _dot_ com /post/71057853818/the-blanket-time-anna-used-to-call-the-blanket**


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